Shyness and Anxiety

Shyness is not social anxiety or phobia

Ella is oftentimes having difficulty in handling classroom recitation. Her speech is slurred while giving her answers to her professor, though she knew that her answers are all correct. Her classmates and friends always encourage her to engage in classroom discussions. It took time before she could muster the confidence to do so. But through our constant push and our professor’s complements about how bright Ella is, she soon overcame her difficulty and was able to speak clearly in class.

Kathy, on the other hand, do not go to school anymore because of her fear in encountering people. She tries hard to avoid meeting people and social situations. If she is in school and somebody approaches her, her palms become sweaty and her heart starts to beat fast.  She oftentimes feels sick to her stomach as soon as she approaches the classroom to the point of feeling that she will soon have a fever or the flu.  Most of the time, she is absent in class and does not go outside of her house.

If you are to describe the condition of Ella and Kathy, you will notice that the first condition presented was a mild anxiety or better known as shyness and was reversed by the help of the support system she has and gained her confidence.

While Kathy’s condition is much more severe, chronic and excruciating, her condition cannot be dismissed as simple shyness but this is what is known to be social anxiety or better known as social phobia, the third most common psychiatric condition after depression and alcohol use.

Kathy’s condition can be described as too much fear of something so unreasonable and what is more disturbing are the physical and physiological manifestations. It is a disabling fear of embarrassment and humiliation because it reaches a point that it disrupts a person’s everyday life.

Most often because it is dangerously dismissed as simple shyness, when diagnosed accurately, it has already led to something more serious. Eighty-one percent of the victims have already become affected with mental disorder – 61 percent suffered panic disorder and 90 percent having clinical depression. Others turn to alcohol, making 75 percent of those suffering social phobia alcoholic.

Commonly-experienced symptoms of social phobia

Those people who suffer this condition may make even the most benign situation appear as something to be frightened of and be terrified with, thus producing symptoms such as uncontrollable sweating, trembling, heart palpitations, wobbly legs and feet and a feeling of intensified fear. Other symptoms noticed include:

Persistent fear of any social situation

Frightened of people with authority and doing everything just to avoid them

Intense fear of talking, speaking to strangers or even meeting new people

Terrified by the thought that others would notice their catching of breath, blushing, difficulty in speaking, thus judge them critically

No matter how hard they try, they seem unable to control themselves; do not act cool and calm even if they know that their fears are too unreasonably excessive.

Social phobia or anxiety is common to both men and women across cultures. There is an estimated three percent of the population suffering from this condition but other studies suggest the figure to be at eight to 15 percent. Forty percent of the population suffering developed the condition prior to the age of ten while 95 percent developed the condition before the age of 20.

Another finding reveals that almost 5.3 million American adults or 3.7 percent of the population suffer from social anxiety disorder and that women are twice likely to experience the condition than men. 

If social phobia remains undetected or unattended, it can lead to the development of other disorders such as depression, avoidant personality disorder, eating disorders, abuse of drugs and alcohol and even suicide.

Social phobia or anxiety may be developed by a person who experienced a traumatic event in his life or observed a friend in traumatic situations. Family environmental factors can also cause this condition especially if the child has little opportunity to have social interactions with others and that parents have used a very avoidant and controlling technique over their children.

Usually people who suffer from social phobia have a very different thinking style which is concerned with negative evaluation. This gives the patient intense feelings of worthlessness. Also, those who suffer from this often focus their attention on the wrong things. They focus too much on the negative and lastly they avoid all social situations that result in anxious feelings.

Fortunately for those who are on the brink or even those who suffer this condition can be treated with a combination of medications and therapy (cognitive, behavior and graded exposure therapy).

If you think your fear of something is too excessive, do not hesitate to seek professional help immediately than be sorry in the end and suffer a much worse condition than social phobia.

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